Pak should focus on TTP and be ready to work with UPA III: Khurshid

New Delhi, May 4: The Indian government on Saturday slammed Pakistani army chief Raheel Sharif over his remark that Kashmir is Pakistan's jugular vein and asked Islamabad to concentrate on challenges it faces from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). India's foreign minister Salman Khurshid also asked the Nawaz Sharif government to be prepared to engage with a UPA III government in New Delhi.

Stressing that political parties in India repudiated the way the Kashmir issue was presented in Pakistan, Khurshid said: "We acknowledge that and we associate ourselves with the commonly held position, the common position in our country that Kashmir is an integral part of our country." He said the army and the security forces in Pakistan should address challenges coming from the TTP and other forces that are attacking the civilians in that country and asked it not to create confusion in the subcontinent.

Pakistan has protested India's decision not to allow its pilgrims in Ajmer

On Pakistan's stand that it is ready to work with a regime under Narendra Modi, Khurshid said Islamabad shoudl instead get ready to work with a UPA III government.

On Friday, India announced not to allow Pakistani pilgrims to Ajmer as a step for safety and security and welfare of the pilgrims during the ongoing general elections in the country. Islamabad protested this move, saying it is the fourth time that India decided against pilgrims' visiting the holy shrine in last one year.